Guitar Zero

When I decided to read Guitar Zero, I was hoping to read about the author’s journey from being musical illiterate to being fluent at the guitar, and perhaps emulate his path. I was starting with a better foundation than him, and had lower expectations. But the book didn’t end up being what I expected.

I had hoped there would be a step-by-step (or at least some plan) on how to play the guitar, but rather this book was about how music affects the human brain, and how a human whose brain hasn’t developed musically yet can become more musical and benefit. I wasn’t interested in the latter, but the former was sometimes interesting.

The specific effects of music on brain chemistry was not interesting to me, but I enjoyed the discussion on how song structures can affect our enjoyment of music – music satisfies our brain’s need for repetition and novelty at the same time.

On the whole, I skimmed through large sections of the book quickly, thinking that it was quite long (240+ pages) and I was getting bored. Lucky for me, the book ended around page 170. What were the last 70 pages? Acknowledgments, glossary, index, appendix/images etc!